If you want to help people, to share information and give them some insight based on your experience so that they can delve in to a topic so that their own conclusions can be reached, you’re now evil.

The levels of offence of butt hurt that engulfs is quite something to behold.

Personally I’ve always enjoyed the “Triple Filter” test of Socrates.

– Is it true?

– Is it good/kind?

– Is it useful?

I tend to approach a lot of things I hear with this.

The first is often answered like this “Umm, I don’t actually know 100%.”, this is more than enough to peak my interest and delve a little more.

It is worth noting there are very few infallible truths in this life, the best we can hope to settle for is 98% certainty.

Holding on to a healthy dose of skepticism will get you a ing way in life because of the passion to learn.

If you’re content with what you know then you’ll stop growing.

The second question comes down to the style of information it is, essentially is it trying to genuinely oppose an opinion/thought/fact in a respectful way or is it nothing more than fluffed up slander?

Any that fall in to the latter will get asked this –

“Why did you say it that way?”

If there is a personal or emotional bias in it then the information is tainted, while not entirely dismissed it’s worth keeping in mind there may be a potential agenda behind it.

You should be able to represent a point or counter view respectfully, without emotion.

Sadly pure logic and rational though is not common.

Lastly, will the information help challenge you to grow, that to me makes it useful on a personal level.

In a general sense it can be related to completing a task, solving a problem or generally being useful.

A few closing words.

If something provokes a reaction in you, the chances are its what you need to listen to and consider might be higher than you’d like.

Emotional reactions mean we are attached to something, so we need to ask ourselves why, to question our beliefs so that we can continue to grow, otherwise what’s the point in anything.

We have endless options at our disposal in the realm of physical culture, yet many still don’t see any value in it.

The classic excuses come out and one of the main reasons for this is because that in each persons social circle they may indeed not need to do anything as they could be the big fish int heir small pond.

They might be the fittest, leanest, strongest, and so on.

Yet the second they step out of this place they are hit by anxious thoughts, often they will say “I don’t like X, people are too judgemental their.”.

I can tell you one truth, no one really gives a shit about what you’re doing, not really – especially in the gym.

As a people we should always be looking to better ourselves, may won’t, however perhaps they should.

Let us say in your group you are top dog, this is all well and good, especially for your ego, however it’s not conducive to progress.

If you are top dog it might be time to leave your current social circle and find a better one, a tougher one that will force you to start at the bottom again.

This goes for business and a great many other things too.

One sure fire way to light a fire under your ass is to find people that are better than you, never be content with being the dominant force, always be the once chasing because it will keep you sharp, hungry and most importantly, humble.

^^ A sentence many a man has said over the years and continues to say to this day.

“I want to be lean and strong”

^^ Something I’m pleased to announce more women are saying, it seems there has been a shift in them saying ‘I just want to be skinny’ to now learning the benefit of being lean and strong, it’s great to see.

While it is only my opinion, I feel everybody should be strong.

I’m not talking about record breaking strong, just strong enough to stay healthy and stave off the effects of ageing on the body.

These sports all centre around lifting:

– Weightlifting (olympic lifting)

– Body Building

– Powerlifting

– Strongman

– CrossFit (some may not like this one)

Did you know lifting weights can have the following positive effects on the body:

Personally I’d say the mental improvement is the pivotal one as this can have the biggest impact on a persons life in a very positive way.

However….

If you’re not an athlete and lift for health/confidence you should do it because you enjoy it, not because you feel you have to, that’s the secret to balance and long term sustainability.

Don’t eat yourself up if you miss a session, chalk it up to life and sue it as a rest day, that way you’ll be more motivated when you get to go in, excited to train in fact. Keep this in mind and you’ll find you don’t fall out of love with training.

What if lifting isn’t for you?

That’s cool, find soothing you do enjoy, here are some other options for improving strength and all achieving all the other benefits mentioned above:

Nothing fancy today, just a short post that is intended to serve as a reminder.

Work harder when you’re in the gym.

Some of you will argue that you already do, if that is true then you’re getting the results you want and can carry on as you are.

If you disagree but are not getting the results you want then it’s time to reevaluate. if you are indeed working hard enough but lacking results you’ll do well to look at the following:

Is training specific to your goal or general

Nutrition is suitable for the goal

Recovery is optimal

You’re not lying to yourself about how hard you’re really training

Have you been training long enough to see results – if no keep going of snow, if yes, see above

Not intended to put you down, but when something isn’t quite going as planned it’s worth taking a look at what’s going on in the sense of the bigger picture. Many think they’re doing what they need to do however in reality that’s not the case.

Can you answer that very simple question with honesty and an answer(s) that you, yourself believe to be true, or will you answer it based on what you have been told to think by others. Just take a minute and think about it.

It is not uncommon for people to sit glazed over when that is asked of them. After all, how often do you get people questioning why you do things, or more importantly asking you to ask yourself why you do things. We think we know, we think they are our own choices, yet when we really sit and think, it becomes apparent that for most people that is not the case.

Often times we simply do the things we do because somewhere along the line we were told that’s how it had to be, how we had to be, how it all ‘should’ be.

Most of you will live other peoples dreams and spend your life wondering why you never feel fulfilled.

If we take the example of losing weight, a term that is not right for a lot of people, the correct term is FAT LOSS. You can cut of an arm and lose weight, you might not be happy that you;ve lost and arm but you’ve lost weight so you can’t complain, right?

Apologies, back to the point.

People look to lose fat because they think they should based on what they have been told by others, read that is written by others, seen in others and consider is the only acceptable course of action by others.

Can you see the problem.

A person will start out on a journey of self improvement based on the opinions, beliefs and values of someone else, they are doing it for someone else, not themselves. Is it any wonder people fail at so many things that they never really wanted. No, it isn’t.

When it comes to achieving a goal, you need three things:

– Commitment
– Consistency
– Hard Work (or work ethic)

Although those three things are important, if the goal of desire is not of your own choosing in the first place you will find more reasons/excuses to give up because you don’t really want it.

Your goals must mean something to you, they must be yours and yours alone. Do it for you, know why you’re doing it and tin doing this you will finally get that fulfilment you’ve been searching for.